Author's Note: This is a story that is kind of true to my life. Not completely but kind of. My grandmother died when I was ten and the cousin and I who never got along actually became close friends afterwards while helping each other through our grief but for the story's sake, there is going to be a lot of stuff Miley goes through that I didn't. It just makes the story more interesting. This is just a Liley friendship story.

Show Me How to Live Again

Chapter 1

I hate death.

I always did and I always will.

It takes away the people you love the most. It takes them away to Heaven but you can't see them again until you go up there.

It also changes those left behind.

I gently ran my hand over the brown casket lined with gold that held my dear grandmother. I gently tapped the top of the casket as if that would bring her back to life. It wouldn't. I knew that but somehow I still wanted her to open the top of the casket and yell, "Surprise!"

I sighed as I took one last look at the casket, then I turned around and walked back to my seat. I glanced up to see my cousin, Miley, sitting in the corner of the room, all by herself, staring out a window. She looked lost. Her eyes were glazed over and she had a blank expression on her face. Out of the corner of my eye I saw my mom walking up to me.

"Lilly?"

"Yeah mom?" I asked while I continued to stare at my cousin and how lost she seemed,

"I know you and Miley haven't gotten along in a while but she needs a friend right now. She needs her cousin. I know you both just lost your grandmother but you need to be there for each other."

I slowly nodded my head. It was true. Miley and I were really close when we were young but then I'm not really sure what happened. We were best friends when we were really young, I'm talking when we were three and four. We always lived in the same neighborhood and went to school together. Our grandmother would take care of us while our parents were at work. We were still friends, just not as close.

I stood up and smoothed out my dress. I hated this dress. Actually I hated wearing dresses. I was much more comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt. I only wore dresses because my granny loved me in dresses, especially this one. A dark shade of blue that she said went well with my eyes and a ribbon around the middle. I slowly walked over to Miley, occasionally glancing over at the casket still praying that my grandmother would come back to life. I knew she wouldn't but hey, miracles do happen. I sat down next to Miley. She didn't even glance away from the window. She sat there, completely still.

"Miley?"

She still didn't say anything. I sighed. Miley was usually smiling and laughing. She could talk anyone to death. This was definitely not the way Miley usually acted but this was not a normal situation. Our grandmother just passed away.

I slowly reached out my hand and took her hand. It felt so cold so I rubbed both of my hands over hers trying to warm it up. She still didn't show any signs of knowing I was there.

"Miley, I'm right here. Please talk to me."

She finally turned around to face me. Her eyes looked so empty. Those lively blue eyes that we all knew could only belong to Miley, weren't there anymore. No matter how deeply I tried to look, there was just nothing there. I didn't want to admit it at the time but I knew, this girl was falling apart.

"I can't cry," I heard her say, her soft voice breaking any kind of silence that there ever was between us.

"What? What do you mean you can't cry," I asked. She slowly shook her head and looked down at her lap.

"I can't cry. I think I'm in shock. She's gone Lilly, she's gone."

After she finished she completely fell into my arms. I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her as she sobbed on my shoulders.

I honestly wish that I had known what to say. All of our lives, our grandmother was always the one who knew the perfect thing to say but she was no longer here. I glanced over at Miley's mom as she stared blankly at a wall. It was her mother who had died. Her father had died a couple of years earlier so now she had lost both parents. Right now her aunt and uncle were comforting her. Miley's dad was also comforting her but it was kind of awkward since they were separated.

I looked back down at Miley who was still crying on my shoulder. I knew at that moment that something was going to happen. I didn't know what but I knew that our lives were going to change drastically. After a while of just holding Miley, I saw the funeral director walking towards the casket. They were going to let the whole family get there and then open the casket for viewing. I didn't know whether or not I wanted to see my granny laying there. I saw the man open the top of the casket as I whispered what was going on in Miley's ear.

"Miley, they are opening the casket. Do you want to go see her?"

Miley stayed silent and didn't budge. I sighed.

"Do you want me to go up there with you?"

Miley nodded. I had just lost my grandmother too so I didn't know where this strength was coming from. Emotionally I was always the stronger of the two of us. I glanced at the casket thinking I wouldn't see anything but I did. I saw my granny's head laying on a pillow. She looked so peaceful but so small at the same time. She had cancer before she died and it ate every last bit of her. I took a deep breath as I stood up with Miley looking down at the floor. I felt my great aunt Rose, my granny's sister, come up behind us and put her arms around our shoulders as we slowly walked up to the casket. It felt nice to know our aunt was with us because even though I was wanting to be strong for Miley, I needed someone to be strong for me.

We finally made it to the casket and looked down. It was definitely my grandmother but it didn't look like her. They did her make up well though. I almost reached my hand out to touch hers one last time but I knew it would be cold. My granny's hands were always warm. I wanted to remember them that way so I didn't touch her hand. I felt Miley stiffen next to me. I looked at her as she stared down at our grandmother. I could tell it was hard for her to take in what was happening as she turned her head to bury it in our Aunt Rose's shoulder. I rubbed Miley's back as I said, "Do you want to go sit back down Miley?"

Miley nodded her head as she took in a shaky breath. Aunt Rose led us both back to the pew. We didn't sit though. Aunt Rose took us both in her arms and hugged us. I didn't know it at the time but Aunt Rose would be a huge help. She and our Uncle Charles only lived ten minutes away from us so we could see them anytime we wanted.

When we broke the hug we sat back down. I continued to keep my arm around her. I think this as close as we have been in years. I don't know, our relationship was much better when we were really young. I miss it.

We continued to sit there and watch people say their good-byes. That is until I heard two people coming up behind us. I turned slightly to see Oliver and Travis, Miley's and my, childhood best friends. They had always been really good friends and always there when we needed help.

"Hey guys," I said, acknowledging them and turning back to Miley who reached her hand up and waved. She was too upset to really say anything. She just continued staring at the wall.

"Hey," Oliver said as he sat next to me. Travis went and sat next to Miley.

"You know, we were talking and we are going to miss her too. She was like our grandmother," Travis said. I looked up and slightly smiled at him. Miley just acted like no one was there. I think she was in her own little world so everyone was blocked out.

"Miley?" I heard Travis say. I just looked down and shook my head then I leaned over to Travis and said, "She hasn't said much. This has hit her the worst I think." It did hit me but something you have to understand is that our grandmother lived with Miley. Sure, I lived in the same neighborhood and I saw her every day but it would be different for Miley. The house will be a constant reminder that granny is no longer there.

"Oh, I see," Travis said as he looked at Miley. Oliver reached over and took Miley's hand. Honestly, nothing against Travis, but I always thought Oliver was a better friend. Travis was just, well, sometimes he could be self-absorbed and not think about others. That wasn't all the time but some of the times like when he would get around certain friends of his.

The funeral seemed to drag on so slowly. Tears were being shed everywhere. Miley completely broke down which led me to completely break down. Luckily Oliver and Travis were there so we had some friends to comfort us. The preacher gave a beautiful sermon though. I always did like him. He was the preacher at our church who is a good friend of the family and he was a good friend to our grandmother.

After the service, we all went back to Miley's house. Miley didn't say much. We all tried but she just stared blankly out the window in the corner. When I went over there for the third time to try to talk to her, I was moderately successful. Not as much as I wanted though.

"I just can't believe our grandmother's gone and I'm still living." Miley said. At least I got her to say something.

I took her hand and said, "This will be hard for all of us Miley but we have to remember that we are all in this together. You're not alone. Please don't shut us all out. Now is a time for the family to stand together." Miley looked at me and smiled slightly, "That sounds like something granny would have said."

"Well we both got things from her like a lot of her old sayings," I said, trying to lighten the mood since our granny always had funny sayings. It didn't work.

I just took her hand and slowly rubbed it with my thumb. Looking back, I did miss when we were kids. We were so close, I didn't really know what happened. We just started arguing all the time. I remembered two three year old girls who were always so happy to see each other and now while we were happy to see each other, we always argued.

I leaned back on the couch, still sitting next to Miley and held her hand. 'What happened?" I asked myself. I knew what happened though. I just didn't want to admit it. I was jealous of Miley. While I did see granny every day, I didn't have some of the memories Miley had of her. I didn't have the memory of her tucking me in bed every night or singing me to sleep at night. I didn't have the memory of her rubbing my eyes with a cold washcloth every morning like Miley did. I don't know. I didn't notice it when I was younger but I did when I was older. I think that was when the friendship started falling apart. My jealousy broke us apart and now I wanted to fix it all of a sudden. Don't ask me why.

All of a sudden, the doorbell rang breaking me out of my thoughts. I turned around to see who it was. My Aunt Susan, Miley's mother, came in with a man. When Miley and her brother Jackson were younger, Aunt Susan and Uncle Robbie separated but agreed to date other people. It took Aunt Susan a long time to meet someone else but she did. The family didn't really like him though, neither did our granny.

I could understand though. The rest of the afternoon went by quickly but Aunt Susan's boyfriend didn't even introduce himself. Uncle Robbie came by and I could tell he and Aunt Susan still had something between each other. They still had some chemistry, I guess they couldn't see it. The whole time, Aunt Susan's boyfriend, Ed, was standing in a corner just drinking water not saying a word. I just ignored him since he was kind of a jerk.

I slept over that night. So did our aunt and uncle and Miley's dad. Miley didn't sleep well though. Neither of us did.

The night seemed to go on forever. Neither of us could stop thinking about how our granny was no longer here. My mother and Aunt Susan had talked after granny died. They thought it would be best if she, my dad, and I moved in with Miley and Aunt Susan just to help out. Miley and I would have to share a room though while Jackson got his own room.

Miley and I could barely be around each other for a whole day without fighting.

How was it going to be when I moved in?

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed that! So, like I said, this happened to me. The only part that happened though was that my grandmother died and my cousin and I became closer but I'll pretty much spell that out through the story. Please feel free to review or PM me. :-)